One of my coworkers, whom I occasional refer to as the SuperRepublican, has some very dramatic viewpoints. And while I only rarely agree with his sometimes radical political exaggerations, he is a pretty hilarious guy and I consider him a close friend.

Knowing that he would most certainly scoff at our recent Earth Day, I asked the SuperRepublican how he celebrated the holiday.

I parked my car in New Haven today. The parking spot in question had a busted meter. Honestly, I didn’t think anything of it. In Boston you are allowed to park at broken meters without punishment. I presumed the same would be true of New Haven.

Turns out, this is not the case. I came back to find a ticket on my vehicle. I looked at said ticket and it said “parking violation. comments: broken meter” zwa?

Fun fact: In the City of New Haven, if a meter is broken that spot can no longer be used for parking.

Unfortunately, I must concede that for New Haven, this is a decent rule. Parking meter vandalism to avoid fees is very likely a significant problem that any city has to deal with. In general I can see how this could warrant a rule like this one. Secondly, a single broken meter in an area of plenty of parking could result in a decrease in revenue if people purposefully parked in these spots – in my case, there were other spots available that I could have used. I think that’s what differentiates Boston from New Haven. In Boston, a lost space is a very big deal. In New Haven… eh. If the law is implemented correctly, one might be able to use this rule as a test for general availability of parking in a particular city.

Despite the admitted guilt and earned respect for an unknown law, I’m still bummed that I have to fork over $20.